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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26993536">Looking Back, Moving Forward</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PJO_Connoisseur/pseuds/PJO_Connoisseur'>PJO_Connoisseur</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alex has the braincell, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Everyone Needs A Hug, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Idiots in Love, Introspection, M/M, Memories, Pansexual Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Past Alex/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Pining, Reggie is a bi disaster</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:47:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>16,642</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26993536</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PJO_Connoisseur/pseuds/PJO_Connoisseur</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After Luke demonstrates his chemistry with Reggie, Reggie is left re-evaluating their past together, his feelings, and what he wants.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Luke Patterson/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>104</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>647</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Looking Back, Moving Forward</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi! This is my first Julie and the Phantoms fanfic after falling in love with it recently. I hope you enjoy it, and comments make my day!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Reggie tends to speak without thinking, which is how he ends up saying, “I don’t know, sometimes a little fire can make things better on-stage.” He directs his attention to Luke. “Like you and Julie.” He says it like it’s a fact, because it is: everyone who has seen Luke and Julie perform together knows they’re one writing session away from becoming a couple. Sure, Luke’s a ghost and Julie’s a lifer, but star-crossed lovers always find a way. Plus, they can’t have a Romeo and Juliet ending when one of them is already dead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is that supposed to mean?” Luke is usually the most confident of the group, but now he sounds unsure of himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie can’t tell if Luke is genuinely oblivious to his own feelings or trying to hide them, but regardless, he says, “C’mon, everyone can see the way you look at her when you sing. You guys </span>
  <em>
    <span>ooze</span>
  </em>
  <span> chemistry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should never say ‘ooze’ again, but yeah, I agree,” Alex adds, standing up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I have chemistry with everybody that I sing with,” Luke says, shifting from uncertain to defensive.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once more Reggie can’t tell if Luke believes his own words, but he shares a knowing look with Alex. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The smug attitude of his bandmates propels Luke further into denial. “Seriously, watch.” Luke stares down Reggie as he launches into the chorus of “Edge of Great”:</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I believe</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I believe that we're just one dream</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>When Luke sings with Julie, his motions are smooth and natural. Singing to Reggie, his steps are ungainly, like he’s putting too much thought into them. The usual ease of his voice and expression have been replaced with something bordering on desperation, but despite that edge, Reggie still gets caught up in him.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Away from who we're meant to be</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke is within inches of him now. Reggie’s throat tightens, taken aback by Luke’s boldness. Then Luke’s hand is on the back of his neck and his mind goes blank, consumed solely by Luke, who’s taking up most of his vision. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>That we're standing on the edge of...great.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie can’t seem to breathe. Luke’s eyes are the kind of deep green a person can drown in, and now he’s so close Reggie could</span>
  <span>—</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow, I see chemistry,” Alex says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Being alerted to a third person’s presence is barely enough to snap Reggie out of Luke’s trance, but even then, there’s a slight tremor in his body. He hopes Luke doesn’t notice it, but his fluster still becomes apparent in his words: “That was pretty hot.” He says it before he can think it through, internally cursing both the lack of filter and how his voice cracks, and expects Luke to make fun of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead Luke kisses his fingertips before pressing them to Reggie’s lips. Luke’s expression is unreadable, perhaps neutral out of relief at having steered the conversation back in his favor. Despite Reggie’s prior conviction over his point about Luke and Julie, his mind is now preoccupied by the indirect affection. Of course, that was probably the plan. Luke was jokingly flirting with him to distract him from talking about him and Julie. Still, acknowledging the plan doesn’t stop it from working.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie clears his throat, a bit too obnoxious to be taken seriously. “Girls, am I right?” The non-question is a thin facade to cover Luke’s effect on him, but if his friends see through him, they ignore it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Luke says, amused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex grins. “No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie turns his attention to his bass, absently fiddling with it while stealing glances at Luke, who’s focusing on his own guitar. The tension is gone as quickly as it came, and Reggie doesn’t know if it was really tension or just his own feelings being projected. What he does know, and what he’s thinking about now, is the deja vu Luke gave him, and all at once he’s on autopilot through practice as he reflects on their lives while still were, in fact, </span>
  <em>
    <span>alive.</span>
 
</em></p><p>
  <em></em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Before</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie’s legs burned from how hard he was pedaling, but in his preoccupation he didn’t register it. The only physical sensation he was conscious of was the strain in his throat as he choked back tears. Showing up at Luke’s house in the middle of the night was bad enough without being a blubbering mess, too. He didn’t slow down until Luke’s house was in sight, but the view provided no relief. He wasn’t going to calm down until he saw </span>
  <em>
    <span>Luke</span></em><span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In contrast to his frantic travel, Reggie was careful to be quiet as he left his bike against the side of the garage and approached the house, dialing Luke so he didn’t have to knock and risk waking Emily and Mitch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reggie?” Luke said, voice raspy in the haze of just having awoken. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m outside,” Reggie said, startled by the softness of his own voice if that was even possible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke hung up the call without asking any more questions, and a minute later he was ushering Reggie to his room. That was one of Reggie’s favorite things about Luke: the heedless trust he handed out like candy. By now Reggie had earned his trust, but Luke had been giving him the benefit of the doubt from the first day they’d met, like he couldn’t help but give everyone a chance. Some people would find that reckless of him, but Reggie found it admirable. Maybe because he could never bring himself to do the same. Even now, years later, Reggie didn’t give as much of himself to his bandmates and best friends as Luke gave to everyone he met.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s wrong?” Luke said as he and Reggie settled onto his bed. Luke’s room so perfectly matched what one would expect from him—band posters, his music equipment, a collection of vinyls—that Reggie had burst out laughing the first time he’d seen it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie opened and closed his mouth, unable to grasp his thoughts strongly enough to articulate them. All at once he felt silly for coming here, especially when his gaze got caught on Luke’s alarm clock, green letters announcing it was one am. He shouldn’t have come, but it was too late to leave. “I’m sorry,” he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? No,” Luke said, scooting closer so their shoulders brushed. “Don’t be sorry. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want, I just—I want to understand. If you’ll let me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And there it was, the earnestness that always poured out of Luke without Luke appearing to notice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They were just—they were fighting again,” Reggie said. “They have been all day. I couldn’t sleep, so I just...had to get out of there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke inhaled sharply, swallowing his anger for Reggie’s sake. “How did they manage to turn your birthday into a fight?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie winced. He hadn’t celebrated his seventeenth birthday with the band because his parents said they were going to celebrate as a family. He’d been elated, which is to say he should have known better. “They forgot,” he said, and the hurt he’d been choking down on the way over came bubbling to the surface.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” Luke said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He wasn’t surprised, and he </span>
  <em>
    <span>shouldn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> be, but Reggie wished he was. He wished this wasn’t part of the larger pattern of his parents’ venom for one another overruling everything else. Even him, even though he was the biggest thing connecting him. Especially him, </span>
  <em>
    <span>because</span>
  </em>
  <span> he was the biggest thing connecting them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Memories of the evening forced tears back into his eyes. Unlike on the ride over, he no longer had the energy to keep them at bay and they began to slip. Luke responded by putting an arm around his shoulders, and Reggie hid his face in Luke’s shoulder, the fabric of his shirt soft against his cheek. They’d been here before, both of them having been in each position. While Luke was as open with his sorrow as the rest of his emotions, Reggie had conditioned himself into a silent cryer, one of many survival tactics. Sometimes Reggie wondered if survival tactics was all he was made of.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I should have turned them down and hung out with you guys instead,” Reggie said a few minutes later, sniffling as he calmed down. He’d accepted their proposition because he didn’t want to start a fight, or because he was stupidly optimistic that this time would be the exception, or maybe both. At the end of the day it didn’t matter, because he would have ended up here anyway just the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We get why you didn’t,” Luke said. “But hey, forget them, okay? The day’s not over yet.” He got down from the bed to rummage underneath it. His statement was blatantly untrue given the time, but Reggie didn’t call him out on it, smiling to himself as he watched Luke pull out a package. The wrapping job was so horrendous it bordered on impressive, but it was red, Reggie’s favorite color. “Open it,” Luke urged, setting it in Reggie’s lap.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie fumbled with the wrapping paper, tearing it away to expose a black leather jacket he held in a loose grip. “It this—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Luke said, biting his bottom lip in a futile attempt to hold back his grin. “The one from the pawn shop.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How did you </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span></em><span>?” Reggie asked, holding the leather jacket to his chest as his eyes shifted to Luke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke rolled his eyes with a laugh. “You were always looking at it. I know I can be oblivious, but even I could see you liked it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie’s fingers grazed over the leather. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Real</span>
  </em>
  <span> leather, which was why Reggie never bought it. It was expensive. Plus he thought himself too soft to pull off a leather jacket. Leather would look more at home on someone as confident as Luke, not on </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span></em><span>. And even if that wasn’t true, he wasn’t sure he deserved something this nice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s smile faltered. “Do you like it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love it,” Reggie said. “I just—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know what you’re gonna say,” Luke said. “And don’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sometimes Reggie was convinced Luke was inside his head. He didn’t mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Try it on?” Luke asked with puppy dog eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie laughed, his reservations draining out of him as he complied. The jacket was solid, heavy, and warm, like a hug. Reggie couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face, increasing as he stood and checked himself out in the mirror. He looked so stylish in it he could ignore the red in his eyes. “It’s perfect,” he said. Then, softer, “Thank you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke beamed and came to his side, dropping an arm around him. “You look good. The ladies will be swarming you after our next gig.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie laughed at the prospect, not acknowledging even to himself that Luke thinking he looked good was enough all on its own. He slipped out of the jacket as a yawn escaped him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can borrow a pair of my sweatpants to sleep in if you want,” Luke said, sliding into bed, all the way to the far side to leave room for Reggie. Luke’s room wasn’t big enough for a couch, so they always shared when Reggie spent the night. It was purely out of necessity.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie accepted the offer, changing into more comfortable attire before turning out the light and joining his friend. Luke’s head was on his hand, arm crooked out in a way that allowed Reggie to use it as a pillow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Happy birthday, Reg,” Luke whispered into the dark.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, Luke,” Reggie said. It wasn’t such a bad birthday after all, even if technically his birthday ended over an hour ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was another thing Reggie liked about Luke. How he could salvage things.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>After</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie doesn’t have a destination in mind when he apparates away after practice, but where he finds himself is the beach. While he, Luke, and Alex tend to cling to each other in times of stress, their time as ghosts has given each of them new personal spots as well. Alex wanders the city with Willie, Luke visits his parents, and Reggie aimlessly drifts around where his house used to be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even though the house has been torn down and replaced, each time he comes he half expects to be wrong, to see it standing there, waiting for him, as if he’d never left. As if twenty-five years didn’t smooth over his life and build something unrecognizable on top of it. So, he shouldn’t be surprised when he appears and it’s still a bike shack, but he is. The disappointment is a dead weight in his chest, shallow but hard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wonders what his parents did with his things. If they packed everything up and kept the evidence that he existed, or if they got rid of it, tried to purge themselves of the fact that he existed. While Reggie was alive they swung back and forth between blaming him for their marital problems and each trying to bribe him onto their side, between being the problem and being the solution, so it could go either way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie touches the edge of the leather jacket. He was never checking it out at the pawn shop because he needed it. He had plenty of jackets, all new and designer, bought in attempts to persuade or guilt him. Luke got him the leather jacket simply because he knew he wanted it and would never get it for himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie tears his gaze away from the bike shack. This isn’t his home anymore. It never was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Next he appears in Luke’s old bedroom, not having been here since dying despite the loads of time spent here in life. It was more home than his own house. As Reggie suspected, time has done nothing to the room. The frameless band posters are taped to the walls. The music equipment is stored with the utmost care. The vinyls are organized by Luke’s opinion of them instead of by band or genre. All the surfaces are free of dust, and Reggie pictures Emily and Mitch coming through each week to tidy up and let their eyes linger on Luke’s things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie, Luke, and Alex would have been famous had they lived. They would have been immortalized through the music and memories they left people with, being passed down through the generations like the Sunset Curve CD that brought them back. As it is, Luke is a teenage boy’s bedroom frozen in time and two mourning parents, Reggie is a bike shack on the beach and an almost-broken family, and Alex is a lost pair of parents who couldn’t look him in the eye. This is what remains of their lives. This is their legacy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie apparates one more time, arriving back at the studio, where Luke is trying to pluck out a chorus for Julie’s new lyrics while she’s at school and Alex is with Willie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke looks up when he hears Reggie appear, a smile breaking out across his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just like that, the weight of seeing two former homes that have been respectively demolished and unchanged, both outcomes equally uncomfortable, lifts from his chest. In all the chaos of Reggie’s life, Luke has always been home.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Before</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie was awoken to his phone buzzing. As soon as he registered Luke’s name on the caller ID, he took the call.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luke?” he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you let me in?” Luke said. “I just—I didn’t know where else to go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie nodded, then remembered Luke couldn’t see him and verbally confirmed. At six pm, his parents were both home, and he didn’t want to start anything by reminding them of his presence. With that in mind, he snuck downstairs, a finger to his lips as he let Luke in, sending him to the safety of his bedroom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened?” Reggie asked as soon as the door was closed. His stomach twisted as he noticed Luke had his guitar and a duffel bag.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke collapsed onto the bed, Reggie settling beside him. “They’ve been trying to talk to me about college, and with how the band’s been doing, that’s all I want to focus on. But they don’t get it and are insisting I go to college and I just—I didn’t mean for it to turn into a fight, but they weren’t trying to understand and I snapped and just...left.” Luke sounded more disappointed than angry, and Reggie took his hand, squeezing it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’ll come around,” Reggie said. Bobby was too quiet for them to know what his parents were like, but out of Reggie, Alex, and Luke, Luke definitely got the best pair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe,” Luke said. “Or maybe we’ll just keep fighting. I just needed to get away. I’m sorry for just showing up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t be,” Reggie pushed. “This is what we do for each other. And besides, I get it.” He half expected yelling to start up to make his point, but it didn’t, though the absence brought no reassurance. His parents not speaking to each other was as telling as the screaming matches. This was, at best, a truce. More likely it was a Cold War. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, Reg,” Luke said, leaning his head on his friend’s shoulder. “You just—you always understand, and let me complain even though we both know you have it worse.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not a competition.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” Luke said. “But still. I just wish things were different. For all of us. That your parents would get the divorce and mine would give my dreams a chance and Alex’s would stop being assholes, whatever it is they’re mad about. He still won’t tell me. But instead here we are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here we are,” Reggie said. A minute passed. “I like to think things will be different when we’re older. My parents will stop being stubborn and we’ll repair our relationship, we’ll be a successful band and your parents will be proud of you, and whatever’s going on with Alex and his parents will get resolved..”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You really believe all that will happen?” Luke asked, barely audible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do,” Reggie said, because it was what Luke needed to hear even if it wasn’t always true.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke smiled, some of the tension leaving his body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can stay here as long as you need,” Reggie added, fully meaning that one. “Things will get better. I promise.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke laughed. “You’re the only person who could say that and have me believe them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie smiled. “We’re only seventeen, after all. We have all the time in the world.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>After</b>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know how I feel about the house being gone,” Reggie says out of the blue one day while he and Luke are hanging alone in the studio. “I don’t know if I miss them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your parents?” Luke says, setting aside his guitar.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie slumps on the couch beside him. “Yeah. We occupy this weird space where we’re in this world but not really a part of it—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like being lonely in a crowd,” Luke says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Exactly. I wouldn’t be able to talk to them, but...I could still see them. How they’re doing. I don’t know if being able to see them would be more or less painful than not knowing where they are and if they’re...happy now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s jaw sets, and he puts his hand under Reggie’s chin, lifting it to make him meet his eyes. “If they are, it’s not because you’re gone.” He counters Reggie’s thought before the thought can form.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess,” Reggie says. “But even so. I don’t know if I’d want to see them if I couldn’t say anything to them, or if I’d want to even if I could. Julie’s been showing me how the internet works. She thinks she could track them down if I really wanted to. But if I went looking for them, I don’t know what I’d want to find if I succeeded.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke places a hand on Reggie’s arm, as if confirming he’s listening while knowing Reggie isn’t done.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie runs a hand through his hair, tousling the styled look. “If I was a better person I’d be hoping they got the divorce and are living better lives now, but a bitter little part of me hopes they’re miserable.” The words are foreign on his tongue, a bitter contrast to his usual cheer and optimism.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That doesn’t make you a bad person,” Luke says. “After everything they put you through, you’re allowed to not want the best for them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Even after twenty-five years?” Reggie says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s still fresh for you,” Luke replies. “But I gotta ask...what would you be hoping to get out of it, if you saw them again? Regardless of how they’re doing. What’s the positive outcome?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie chews on Luke’s question until it disintegrates in his mouth. “Closure, I guess.” Then, he frowns, the reality settling over him. “But I don’t think I’d get it.” Resolving things with his parents isn’t an option for him. Not when the familial strain had nothing to do with him at its core. Reggie was a prop in his parents play, not the director of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke squeezes his arm, sending him a sad, sympathetic smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie is glad the house is gone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Before</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex was late to band practice. If Reggie, Luke, or Bobby had been a few minutes late, the others would have been irritated but mostly unperturbed. Alex, however, had never been late before, leaving his bandmates concerned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After half an hour of waiting, Bobby left, not wanting to waste his time when he had other unspecified preoccupations. The band didn’t know what he did outside of practice, a detail they never seemed to notice or care about. Luke and Reggie, on the other hand, stuck around until Alex arrived, appearing lost and disheveled a full hour after the planned start time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry I’m late,” Alex said, sitting at his drum set. “Let’s do this.” Being the most likely to call out the others, seeing Alex be dismissive of his own uncharacteristic behavior was unsettling. They weren’t going to let his delayed entrance slide that easily, and Alex had to know that, only adding to the pit in Reggie’s stomach.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where were you?” Luke asked, free of judgment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nowhere,” Alex said, shuffling through music with a more intense expression than the action required. “Just lost track of time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alex—” Reggie began.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine,” Alex said. “Let’s just play.” He started drumming to a random song, but he was so off-rhythm Reggie couldn’t tell which one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dude, stop,” Luke said, approaching the drum set. “Is this about a girl or something?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The comment was a teasing attempt to lighten the mood, but Alex flinched, suggesting Luke was dead on. Even so, Reggie didn’t think that was it, not when Alex had been spending more and more nights with Luke and Reggie while refusing to explain what was going on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bobby left, so we’re not having practice anyway,” Reggie said, keeping his concern out of his voice. He sat on one end of the couch, patting the spot beside him. “You can talk about it, if you want.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke hovered near the drumset a moment longer before sitting on the opposite end of the couch, leaving the middle for Alex. Alex didn’t move, knuckles turning white with how he gripped his drumsticks, staring at one of his drums as if he could find answers in the white head. Reggie flexed his fingers against the surface of the couch, nausea brewing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What would it take for you guys to stop being my friends?” Alex asked after minutes of tense silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke and Reggie exchanged a frown. Luke said, “You didn’t kill someone, did you, buddy?” The question came out more serious than intended.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that what it would take?” Alex said. “Nothing short of that would make you hate me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie opened and closed his mouth, restraining himself from demanding answers. “I mean, it would have to be pretty big. Everybody screws up, and most things can be fixed.” He swallowed. “Why? What did you do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex shook his head. “It’s not anything I did. Just...who I am.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alex, I’m sorry, but you kind of need to give us more than that,” Luke said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re here for you,” Reggie added.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex pressed his drumsticks to his lap, still holding them with both hands. “The thing with my parents, what they’ve been mad about…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie swallowed his internal “Finally!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex set the drumsticks aside and stood up, hands in his pockets. “I’m gay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie’s eyebrows shot up. Glancing at Luke, his friend had a similar look of surprise. Just surprise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s cool,” Luke said, approaching Alex with an easy grin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex raised his head, warily regarding Luke, then Reggie as he walked up as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Totally,” said Reggie. “Jeez, man, I thought we were going to have to cover for a crime. And like, we would have, but we’d prefer not to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex sat up straight, gaze bouncing between the two, searching. “You’re okay with it? I promise I haven’t been perving on you guys or anything, I just—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke laughed, not meaning to be dismissive, and clapped a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Alex, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, chill. We’re not assuming anything. And like, even if you did have a thing for one of us, it wouldn’t be a big deal.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s right,” Reggie said, dragging both of his friends into a loose group hug. “That would be a stupid reason to hate you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And hypocritical. It’s not like I’ve never checked out Reggie before,” Luke said, winking at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie turned bright pink while Alex laughed, anxiety easing at long last. “A-anyway,” Reggie said, “the point is, we love you no matter what. We’re family.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex was beaming.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Damn right we are,” Luke said. “Oh, that reminds me!” He left the hug to dig through an extra bag he brought to practice, withdrawing a pile of white fabric. “I meant to do this when we were all here, but we can give Bobby his next practice. I made shirts!” He launched the shirts at his friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex and Reggie both checked out the logo, simple and solid black against the white cotton. When Reggie looked up, mouth open and ready to praise the design, Luke was pulling his sleeveless shirt over his head to replace with the band tee. Although Reggie’s words died on his tongue as his mind went blank, his lips stayed parted. Luke had always been the traditional heartthrob of the band, an inevitable result of being the lead singer and having killer good looks. He almost always wore sleeveless shirts, showing off muscular arms Reggie couldn’t believe he had the time to maintain, but now Reggie got the full effect of Luke’s workout sessions with the expanse of his toned chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t snap out of staring at his friend until Luke was pulling the band shirt on, looking away before Luke could catch him. Alex, on the other hand, smirked at him. Reggie pointedly refused to look at either of them, face on fire as he hurried to put on the t-shirt as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With all three of them in their new Sunset Curve shirts, they returned to their group hug, leaning into each other as if gossiping at recess.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now it’s official,” Luke said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex laughed. “That we’re in a band?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke swatted him with a fond smile. “That we’re bonded for life. Our parents may vary, but we’ve always got each other. Family by choice, the only family that counts.” He locked eyes with each of them in turn. “We’ll ride to the end or die trying.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie tightened the hug. “I love you guys.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Love you too,” Luke said with a grin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex was tearing up and pulled them closer, his response going without saying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were together, and that was all that mattered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>After</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Julie is late to band practice. Normally no one was late. After all, the Julie half of the band lives here and the Phantoms half of the band can get anywhere they want in a split second. She ends up being only a few minutes late, strolling in with a medium-sized box and a sparkle in her eye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Perceptive enough to notice the design company logo on the box, Alex stands. “Is that what I think it is?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Julie grins. “Flynn designed them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie and Luke both rush toward her like a couple of excited puppies. “Band shirts?” Reggie asks, bouncing on the balls of his feet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Julie laughs, opening the box and holding one up for them to see. Flynn clearly did them the service of taking inspiration from the Sunset Curve logo, “Julie and the Phantoms” made of the same sweeping straight lines and whooshing curves, the style intentional but made to look careless, like Luke’s hair. “Julie” is a bold purple while the rest is in shimmering silver, giving off the look of bedazzlement without the hassle of rhinestones. The intense color of “Julie” next to the shine of the other words makes each part stand out without either overpowering the other, a symbiotic relationship between two equally important parts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s perfect,” Reggie says, choking on the words, emotional without meaning to be. He reaches to hug her, only to stop, remembering he’d pass right through her. The reminder leaves a lump in his throat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seemingly noticing his struggle, Alex gives him a side hug while saying to Julie, “He’s right. How come she isn’t here to bask in our gratitude?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s busy with a group project, but don’t worry, she preemptively got a big head about it even without you there,” Julie says, chuckling. “I can’t blame her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Neither can I,” Luke says. “Now come on, pass ‘em out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Julie rolls her eyes without malice, tossing shirts at the guys before leaving to change into hers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s been awhile since you’ve worn a shirt with sleeves,” Reggie jokes to Luke, earning a gentle shove.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you’re so into it,” Luke says with a wink, as self-assured as ever as he takes off his shirt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie’s heart pounds, mind torn between Luke’s friendly flirting and his newly exposed skin. Instead of going straight to putting on his new shirt, Luke looks to Reggie and catches him watching. Reggie’s head snaps away from Luke before he can gauge Luke’s reaction, his hands shaking slightly as he changes. As he’s pulling the shirt over his head, he risks a glance at Luke, who is pointedly looking at the ground. Shit. Reggie definitely made him uncomfortable. Before he can apologize, Julie reenters.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We ready to practice?” she asks, both her and Alex invigorated by the new shirts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Reggie says, and he doesn’t dare look at Luke the entire time they play. He doesn’t really need to, anyway. Since transitioning from Sunset Curve to Julie and the Phantoms, Reggie and Luke haven’t been sharing the mic as often as they used to, that move usually going to Julie and Luke. The decision makes sense, with Julie being the face of the band and Luke being the same heartthrob he was back in ‘95, but a tiny part of Reggie feels slighted. Like on a low level he’s being replaced. The thought is silly and he knows it, but it tugs on him as he watches Julie and Luke share the mic throughout the song they’re rehearsing, and he can’t help but think maybe it’s also a little bit because they look good together. </span>
  <em>
    <span>You guys</span>
  </em>
  <span> ooze</span>
  <em>
    <span> chemistry.</span>
  </em>
  <span>Reggie had said it himself, and now the words were back to haunt him, though he couldn’t tell why he was so bothered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The entire time he is thinking about it, he can’t stop looking at the shirt he’s wearing. The part of him that’s caught in the past feels poisoned by it, like his history is being written over. Even though they’ve been Julie and the Phantoms for a while now, this feels like a more definitive end for Sunset Curve, and the reality hits him square in the chest. Things are changing and he’s not sure if he’s ready for it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re going to kill our next performance,” Julie says while falling onto the couch after practice. “Only three more days.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s face becomes pensive. “Three? It’s on the seventeenth, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, why?” Julie asks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie, Luke, and Alex all share growing smiles as the realization collectively dawns.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Today’s the anniversary of Sunset Curve forming,” Reggie explains.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Julie sits up straight. “We should celebrate!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex has a sardonic smile. “Normally we’d celebrate this sort of thing with street dogs.” He and the other two crowd next to Julie on the couch, Luke sitting between Julie and Reggie with Alex on the far end. Luke is careful not to touch Julie, giving the illusion that they’re really all sitting there together, that he wouldn’t pass through her upon contact.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Besides, we’ve got the whole family here with new shirts,” Luke says. “What else do we need?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie’s arm and leg are pressed against Luke’s, a fact he is more aware of than he should be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Family?” Julie says. There’s a subtle but noticeable shift as she goes to nudge Luke before remembering that’s not an option. Reggie can’t imagine not being able to touch his best friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely,” Luke says, wrapping an arm around Reggie. Reggie and Alex do the same until they’re all looped around each other. “We promised to be back in the day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think we may have taken the ride or die thing a bit too seriously,” Reggie says, humor the only tool at his disposal to relieve some of the pressure in his chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well maybe if you guys had listened to me about the hotdogs having a new flavor,” Alex says. “But nooo.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke bursts out laughing. “It was twenty-five years ago, Alex, let it go. But more importantly, we did it, didn’t we? We promised to stay a family and we did, which is better than any of us ever got.” One corner of his mouth wavers. He’s thinking about his parents, and Reggie knows that Luke doesn’t apply that attitude to his own family. If he did, he wouldn’t spend half his free hours sitting on their countertop, and he definitely wouldn’t have written “Unsaid Emily” while he was still alive.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And we have a new member,” Alex says, leaning forward to smile at Julie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good to know,” Julie says, and they all know that being included in their found family means more to her than the words express.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s the equivalent of ride or die when you’re already dead?” Luke muses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think answering that question will jinx us,” Reggie says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They settle into silence, leaning into each other, as close as they can get. While there are many confusing feelings messing with Reggie’s head, something he’s certain of is that this is a forever family. That was all he really wanted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His eyes land on Luke, who’s gazing at Julie the way he does on stage, overflowing with admiration, and his chest pangs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the back of his mind, maybe this isn’t all he wants to have. But he’s not going to think too much about that, because this is what he </span>
  <em>
    <span>can</span>
  </em>
  <span> have, and that’s enough.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Before</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie was laying in bed writing the lyrics to a country song when Luke returned from the shower with damp hair dripping on his shirt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Whatcha working on over there?” Luke said, sitting at the end of Reggie’s bed by his feet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie shook his head, ripping the page out of the notepad, crumpling it, and missing the wastebasket when he threw it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke frowned. “Hey, why’d you—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s nothing,” Reggie says. He wanted to write a song, but doing so didn’t come as naturally to him as it did Luke. Luke dreamt directly in lyrics and melodies, but Reggie dreamt in images and impressions, which were much harder to translate into music. Even if he’d finished it, he never would have shown the guys, since none of them wanted a country song like he did. Or maybe it was because images of green eyes and sleeveless shirts kept sneaking into the musical narrative playing in his head, but he was choosing to ignore that anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve been thinking,” Reggie said, changing the topic as he shifted to sit next to Luke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s new,” Luke teased, and Reggie shoved him. Luke only chuckled and put an arm around him, Reggie’s offense disappearing at his touch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know I meant it when I said you can stay here as long as you want,” Reggie said, picking his words carefully. Calculating the exact words to use for his preferred outcome was a survival tactic Reggie had mostly overcome with the guys, with whom he had little filter anymore, but now the skill came in handy. The topic was touchy, and he didn’t want Luke to think Reggie was sick of him. Just worried. “But maybe you should try fixing things with your parents.” Luke had been staying with Reggie for weeks at that point, which went unnoticed by Reggie’s parents. They were in a fight phase, not a silent treatment phase, which meant Reggie didn’t exist to them anymore, and in turn Luke didn’t either.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke stiffened, and Reggie braced himself, unsure if he’d already screwed up. “I don’t know,” Luke said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re good people,” Reggie said. “You know that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke removed his arm from Reggie and scooted away. “I know, Reg. But that doesn’t change anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie bristled in a way he was unaccustomed to. “Of course it does. It means it can be fixed. You have </span>
  <em>
    <span>options</span></em><span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s jaw tightened. “Do I? It sure felt like they were making me choose between them and my music. That’s not fair to me, and I’m not going to choose.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You </span>
  <em>
    <span>are</span>
  </em>
  <span> choosing, though,” Reggie said, standing in front of Luke. “You’re cutting them out and choosing music.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s personality was soft and cheerful, so the hard glare that followed was a look Reggie had never seen on him. “And what? You’re saying you wouldn’t choose music over having a good relationship with your parents?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t,” Reggie said, taken aback by his own lack of hesitation. “All I ever wanted was to have their attention and their affection to not be mutually exclusive. If I’d had the choice, I would have chosen them. But I </span>
  <em>
    <span>don’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> have a choice, and I don’t get how it’s so easy for you to throw away parents who </span>
  <em>
    <span>love</span>
  </em>
  <span> you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke stood, placing himself within inches of Reggie. “Making music means the world to me. You </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span> that. People who love me wouldn’t ask me to give up a piece of myself to appease them. You don’t get to judge me based on your own parental hangups.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It means the world to all of us—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>make</span>
  </em>
  <span> music, you just play it,” Luke said. “You don’t get it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie frowned, hurt that Luke would devalue his role because he struggled to write like him. “They just want what’s best for you,” Reggie said. “They care about you, and they don’t understand music, but they’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>trying</span></em><span>. Why isn’t that enough?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You sound just like them,” Luke snapped. “Next you’ll start telling me I’m throwing my life away.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I read ‘Unsaid Emily,’” Reggie said, changing tactics. “I was moving your stuff and it fell out and I just—I know you miss them, Luke. All the feelings are there. You have the choice that Alex and I don’t. This doesn’t have to be a thing you regret. You can still go back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke opened and closed his mouth, restrained tears turning his eyes glassy. After seconds that felt longer, he finally said, “I’m not going back.” He began picking up his things and shoving them into his duffel bag.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie's chest turned icy. “What are you—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Getting out of here,” Luke said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t,” Reggie said. “You don’t have anywhere else to go.” And I don’t want you to go, he didn’t say.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll find somewhere,” Luke said, guitar strapped over his chest, duffel bag in hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luke—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke left, Reggie staying rooted to the spot. Shit. That really wasn’t how he wanted that conversation to go. When he was able to move again, he sat on his bed, slouching with his head in his hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had tried to be gentle with the topic, but Luke’s attitude rubbed him the wrong way. Still, this was his fault. What if Luke didn’t come back? What if he slept on the streets tonight? What if something happened to him? Even if he did come back, what if he quit the band? What if he stopped talking to Reggie?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie fisted his hair, hot tears running down his face. He just wanted Luke to be happy, but what if they weren’t ride or die after all and he’d just stepped over the line and destroyed the only family he had?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe Luke would never forgive him. Reggie could barely stomach the possibility.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>After</b>
</p><p>
  <span>“Julie visited my parents yesterday,” Luke tells Reggie after band practice. He’s writing on a piece of blank sheet music, but from Reggie’s spot beside him on the couch, he can see he’s writing random notes, not staying within the meter he set. Luke is trying to downplay his nervous fidgeting, and Reggie doesn’t comment on it. “She, uh, she showed them the song.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“‘Unsaid Emily’?” Reggie says although he already knows.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke responds with a curt nod before suddenly ceasing with his non-music writing, setting aside the paper. His leg is bouncing in a way more characteristic of Alex or Reggie. When Reggie scoots closer, Luke glances at him, then stops bouncing his leg.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?” Reggie asks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke takes a long inhale. “I...don’t know. I’m glad she did it, if that’s what you mean. She had my permission and I don’t regret it. It meant the world to my parents, but I—I couldn’t help thinking about how much better it would have been if I’d shown them that song while I was alive. In one way it gave me closure on how our relationship ended, but in another it brought back all the guilt.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They wouldn’t want you to feel guilty,” Reggie says. Memories of afternoons spent at Luke’s house swim through his mind. Reggie was fairly close to them, too. When Luke ran away from home, he wasn’t the only one to lose them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” Luke says. “I know. But I </span>
  <em>
    <span>am</span>
  </em>
  <span> guilty. I was too proud to go home. And maybe...maybe too much of a coward, too. It took all I had just to go back and apologize to </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span></em><span>, and you were one of my best friends.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie doesn’t answer for a minute. “You really scared me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” Luke repeats, taking Reggie’s hand and looking at him with a sorrow he normally only displays while visiting his parents. “I regretted leaving as soon as I stepped outside, but I—I didn’t know what to say. I was such an asshole.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No need to get back into it,” Reggie says. “You’ve apologized already, remember? A whole twenty-five years ago, if I recall.” He ruffled Luke’s hair, earning a small, begrudging smile that made his heart swell.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but...sometimes I still think about it, and how lucky I am you put up with me even when I was being stubborn and unfair.” Luke releases Reggie’s hand only to wrap an arm around his shoulders, tugging him into his side. “You were always too good for me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie laughs, his mind abruptly off-kilter. His voice wobbles when he says, “We both know that’s not true.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke leans in. “I think it’s true. Even after everything you’ve been through you’re still the funniest and most upbeat person I know. Always have been. I don’t know how you do that. Always walking around like you’ve got a bottle of sunshine and the secrets of the universe in your pocket.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie can’t breathe, but in a good way. Luke isn’t often as poetic in his speech as his lyrics, but just now Reggie felt like he was being sung to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really, Reg,” Luke says, grin softening into agonizing sincerity. “I wouldn’t have gotten through half the stuff I did without you and Alex, but especially you. Letting me stay at your place, letting me vent as much as I needed. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” Luke paused as he licked his lips. “Do you have any regrets about your life? The things you didn’t do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s brilliant eyes bear into Reggie from a couple inches away and leave his insides somewhere between gelatin and pudding, neither of which are stable. His lips are parted as if to respond, but he doesn’t, unsure of his answer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then, Luke withdraws his arm and leans back, laughing with an uncomfortable edge to his voice. “No need to look so serious, Reginald. I’m not asking about your darkest secret.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You already know all my secrets,” Reggie says with an eye roll as the bubble that was encompassing pops.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke wiggles his eyebrows. “Do I?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie’s mind flashes back to Luke catching Reggie as he watched him change, and he looks away. “Probably,” he says, convincing no one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s face lights up. “Oooh, sounds like you have something juicy. What’re you thinking about? Is it me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie shakes his head, resenting how he turns pink. “If you get famous I think your head will get so big it pops.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s shoulder brushes Reggie’s as he laughs. “Ouch. Here I thought we were friends.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Exactly. As your friend, it’s my job to pop your ego.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah?” Luke says. “How you gonna do that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie counts on his fingers as he lists Luke’s attributes. “You’re cocky, short-sighted, pushy, proud, have a one-track mind—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you love me anyway,” Luke says, taking his hand again. “And that’s all that matters.” He's looking at Reggie like he's the answer to every question that’s ever skated through his mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All Reggie wants in this world is more of these moments where he and Luke are pressed together in a brief show of affection. He wants Luke to keep looking at him like he’s the last piece of the puzzle. “Of course I love you,” Reggie says. And for the first time, after reflecting on so many little moments that came before this, he understands exactly how he means it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Before</b>
</p><p>
  <span> Luke was hiding his face in his hands as he sat beside Reggie on a park bench. Back at the house, Reggie’s parents were at the peak of a nuclear war, forcing them to seek refuge elsewhere. Reggie’s arm was draped around Luke’s sloped back as he slouched.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m such a coward,” Luke said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not true,” Reggie said. “Anyone would be stressed in your shoes. Stop beating yourself up. You’ll do it next time. I know you will.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke sat up, eyes red from crying. Reggie had never seen him so miserable. “How can you have so much faith in me? I’ve chickened out of talking to them three times now. I never make it past the trees.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because you’re one of my best friends, and I know that when you want to do something, you get it done. Nobody believed in Sunset Curve succeeding, but you did, and now you’ve gotten us a gig at The Orpheum.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We </span>
  <em>
    <span>all</span>
  </em>
  <span> made Sunset Curve succeed,” Luke said. “I’m not a one-man band. I would never want to be.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Still,” Reggie said. “You kept hyping us up even when we were still playing in garages at backyard cookouts in exchange for as many burgers and hotdogs as we could eat. You’re the heart of the band. You’re even the face of it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not true,” Luke said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie gave him an incredulous look. “Luke, you’re the one who gets recognized the most. Once The Orpheum propels us into stardom and they start making posters of us, you’re going to be the one everyone wants. You’re going to be the poster guy tween girls practice kissing on.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke snorted. “I don’t think girls actually do that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The point stands,” Reggie said. “You take dreams and breathe life into them. I’m convinced you can do anything, get anything you want.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke tilted his head, wistful for a moment as he said. “Not everything I want.” Then he broke eye contact, shaking his head before facing forward. “But even if I do talk to them. It’s been two months, Reg. What if...what if they can’t forgive me for running out on them? What then? I’d never forgive myself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That would never happen,” Reggie said. “I have an idea. We were given those extra tickets to the Orpheum show in case we wanted to invite people. Why don’t you send a couple to your parents? See if they come, give them a chance to see how passionate you are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s...that’s actually a really good idea.” Luke smiled for the first time in an hour. Without warning he pulled Reggie into a tight embrace, planting a firm kiss on his cheek. “You’re amazing, Reggie. I ever tell you that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie’s stomach was tying and untying itself in knots. He glanced around the park, relieved to see no one had seen the show of affection, then allowed himself to bask in the glow of it. “Not nearly enough as you should,” Reggie said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke laughed, and while the sound was always music to Reggie’s ears, it was extra poignant after Luke’s breakdown. “You’re absolutely right,” Luke said. He stood, stretching. “You think your parents have calmed down by now?” His face softened as he said it, extending a hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie accepted the hand up. “Probably. And we’ll know before we’re in the door if they haven’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke squeezed his hand in sympathy, but to Reggie’s surprise, he didn't let go afterward. Reggie looked around and caught a couple of judgmental looks, but Luke was unconcerned. Reggie didn’t understand how Luke could do that, hold his hand in broad daylight and come across as a couple, much less take that risk when they’re just friends. Still, despite his own trepidation, Reggie couldn’t help but revel in the warm, firm presence of Luke’s hand in his, and their hands stayed linked until they were back in Reggie’s neighborhood. Taking a chance in another part of the city was one thing. Taking a chance in a place they’d be recognized was another.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they returned to Reggie’s house, his parents had transitioned from soldiers to spies: keeping their distance, lurking around corners, gathering intel they’d use in later combat. Reggie and Luke snuck upstairs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The afternoon was relaxed as Reggie and Luke did homework in peace. When the coast was clear, Luke managed to get to the mailbox to send his parents the Orpheum tickets, for which Reggie was proud. That night was Luke’s turn in the bed while Reggie slept on his couch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reggie?” Luke said, laying in the dark with his eyes on the ceiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You really think things are going to work out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie sat up on the couch. Luke’s tone suggested he meant more than simply the situation with his parents, but Reggie still said, “Of course,” because that was what Luke needed to hear. A minute passed in silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reggie?” Luke said again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a few seconds the only sound was Luke’s shallow breathing. “You want to share the bed tonight? I just…” He trailed off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t need to explain,” Reggie said. He abandoned the couch to slide into bed next to Luke. The bed was king-size, meaning plenty of room for both of them, but Reggie had never considered sharing because he didn’t think that was a thing two guys did when it wasn’t strictly necessary. As time went on the less he cared about what his friendships were like in comparison to what they allegedly should be. So many things in his life weren’t what they should have been, so he might as well take every positive deviation he could get.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Despite the size of the bed, Luke moved to be by Reggie’s side, each of them laying on their side face-to-face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Luke said. One of his arms was tucked under his head, the other scrunched against his body like he didn’t know what to do with it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Reggie returned. Without thinking too much about it, his hand wandered to Luke’s arm, where it grazed up and down his skin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s eyes closed, but Reggie could tell from his breathing that he was still awake. Luke was peaceful this way, and Reggie wouldn’t mind staying like this forever. The thought struck him out of nowhere, and he would have panicked if Luke's serenity wasn’t contagious. Everything about him was contagious: his passion, his drive, his laughter. Luke’s moments of uncertainty always came in regard to himself; when it came to his friends, he always hyped them up as if he’d never had a single doubt about them. Maybe Luke had known way before Reggie and Alex did that they would become an unbreakable family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s eyes fluttered open without warning, breathing steady but shallow. “Reggie...I gotta tell you something important.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie blinked off oncoming drowsiness, alerted by Luke’s serious tone. His heart was pounding and his hand stopped moving though it remained on Luke’s arm. “What’s up?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke wouldn’t meet his eyes, absently scratching at the bedsheets. “Earlier...I wasn’t just upset about my parents. There was something else on my mind, too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie waited while Luke gathered his thoughts, practically able to see Luke shuffling them around as if organizing a filing cabinet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please don’t be mad I didn’t tell you sooner,” Luke said, pleading.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now Reggie was worried. “I—I’ll try not to be?” he said. Luke couldn’t honestly expect him to promise such a thing and they both knew it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke was trembling beneath Reggie’s fingers. “So, um, after Alex came out, I kind of started questioning things, I guess.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie tensed but still didn’t move his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just—I always liked girls, so I never thought too much about it, but like, I sort of realized I’d been misinterpreting some stuff.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you’re like...bisexual? That’s the word, right?” The term wasn’t particularly commonplace, but he’d heard it from Alex once or twice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Something like that,” Luke said, though he was discontent with that verdict.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Reggie said. “That’s cool, Luke. Really cool.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke smiled, but only for a second. “Yeah. Yeah. But uh—that’s not what I wanted to tell you. I mean, it’s part of it, but—” Luke winced. “I just—I don’t want you to feel like we were keeping a secret from you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We?” Reggie said, frowning in confusion rather than anger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke took a deep breath. “Alex and I…” He was struggling to finish, but he didn’t have to. Even Reggie wasn’t dense enough to not get what he was saying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re together,” Reggie said, chest squeezing in an unfamiliar way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Were</span>
  </em>
  <span> together,” Luke said, voice strained. “That’s what I wanted to tell you. We broke up yesterday. That’s—that’s the other reason I was upset.” Even in the dark Reggie could see the tears in his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Too many emotions were swirling inside Reggie at once, churning his stomach until he was nauseous. He had several questions and no idea what order to ask them in. “H-how long were two together?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just a couple months,” Luke said. “It didn’t take us that long to figure out we were better as friends.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For Reggie, who’d never dated anyone, even two months sounded like a long time. Especially for two friends, especially for two friends who didn’t tell him about it. He didn’t voice that thought, instead saying, “That’s why you broke up? You were better as friends?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke nodded against the pillow. “Yeah. At first we thought it was awkward because we were both new to it, but then we realized it was just because it wasn’t like that between us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So he wasn’t the reason you realized? That you’re bisexual, or something like that, I mean.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke averted his gaze, swallowing. “No. He’s not why.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who was then?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No one,” Luke said, a bit too fast. “It was just—you know, looking back on a lot of little moments. No one in particular.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie didn’t call Luke out on the obvious lie. Luke, like Reggie, had always been too earnest to be a good liar, and was definitely the worst liar in the band. Knowing that made it all the more hurtful that he and Alex had successfully kept their relationship a secret from him. Reggie hadn’t thought they kept anything from each other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why didn’t you tell me?” Reggie blurted before he could stop himself. He cringed, withdrawing his hand. “I’m sorry. I know you were figuring things out and I’m not entitled to know and who you guys date isn’t any of my business, but—” But it felt personal. “Did you...did you think I would be mad or not accept you or something? Because you know I don’t care about that stuff! Or at least I thought you knew. I—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reginald,” Luke said with a somber smile, grabbing his hand. “It’s nothing like that. It had nothing to do with you. I was confused and the whole time it felt too fresh to be worth saying anything, and I guess we were right to think so seeing how quickly it ended.” He shrugged.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie calmed. The nerves over a potential rift in their friendship faded, but then the nausea was back. “Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was mutual,” Luke said with forced neutrality, not meeting Reggie’s eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know that’s not what I asked,” Reggie said softly. “It can be mutual and still hurt.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke bit his lip, attempting to hold back, but mere seconds passed before the dam broke and all the heartache came spilling out in the form of loud sobs. Reggie opened his arms without hesitation and Luke slid right into them, muffling his pain against Reggie’s shirt. Reggie’s chin was tucked into the slope where Luke’s neck met his shoulder, one arm tight around Luke while the other hand rubbed circles on his back. Alex was the only one of them with healthy emotional regulation, crying normally when he needed to, contrasted with Reggie's stealth sobs in private and Luke’s bottling then bursting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie said nothing as he held Luke, and Luke let everything out until he fell asleep in Reggie’s arms. Luke was going through a lot right now, but at least there was the knowledge that soon he would be reconciling with his parents. Yet, as happy as Reggie was to know Luke would be patching things up with his folks, a selfish part of him would miss having Luke around all the time, for both the good and the bad.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The thought of Luke leaving him left a longing ache in his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>After</b>
</p><p>
  <span>The night of The Orpheum performance is here and the entire band is restless. Alex can’t stop pacing, and although he already said goodbye to Willie, Reggie can tell he’s resisting the urge to go looking for him again. Even aside from Willie, his anxiety must be in overdrive right now. Julie hasn’t stopped scribbling bits of lyrics for the last hour, using it as a place to store her emotions lest they overwhelm her. Luke has been absently strumming, neither practicing nor writing anything new, just strumming. Reggie himself is sprawled up on the couch, full of adrenaline he doesn’t know what to do with. Today he understands why Alex prefers to walk places over apparating.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They flit in and out of conversation, trying to get in their last words to Julie—and possibly to each other, even if none of them will admit aloud their fears about crossing over. They have their final moments, their final band circle, and then Julie is leaving for the venue with her dad, abandoning the boys to their own devices.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is it, boys,” Luke says, catching the eye of Reggie and Alex in turn. They hover near each other, needing to go but no one making the first move to do so. “Alex?” Luke says, watching his friend’s restlessness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What if this isn’t our unfinished business?” Alex says. He looks at each of his friends as if they’re already goners. As if he’s actively watching them deteriorate in front of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke shrugs. “I’ve been trying not to think about it,” he admits.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie pulls on a smile and clasps his friends' hands, Luke and Alex taking each other’s in response. Reggie gives them a squeeze. “It will be. I’m certain of it. We’ll be in a place where we can rock on for all of eternity.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His friends each manage a smile, Reggie’s confidence almost enough to convince them Reggie believes what he’s saying. To a degree Reggie does believe it. He believes the crossing over part. His true fear is in the rest—what happens if they do cross over. More than anything else, Reggie is terrified of being separated from Luke and Alex. If he has to live in the afterlife without them, he may as well let himself disappear permanently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Reggie doesn’t say that, because he’s supposed to be the reassuring one, the endless source of humor and optimism. If he’s not that, then what is he but a scared teenager from a family made of glass? If he’s not that, then what is he but a boy made of glass himself?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Reggie peeks at Luke, Luke is already looking back, face riddled with concern, like he can see through him. When he looks at Alex, Alex’s gaze is flicking between them with sympathy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I need a moment to myself before we go,” Alex says. He locks eyes with Reggie, gives a near imperceptible nod, and heads outside out of earshot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s eyes are boring holes in the floor while Reggie is rubbing the back of his neck, watching him. With crossing over as a big question mark looming in the distance, this may be his last chance to tell Luke about his personal epiphany. Classic storylines dictate he go for it. After all, be there a more romantic time to confess than right before a potential ending?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Reggie can’t do that. He can’t quite picture what face Luke would make or what he’d say in response, but he knows he doesn’t want it to be what either of them are thinking about during their last performance with Julie. This will be how she remembers them, the final memory they leave her with, and Reggie can’t taint that for her. And without knowing where they’ll end up next, he doesn’t want that to be the last feeling Luke associates with him, either. He’d rather Luke think of him as they are now—each other’s support, comfort, family. That’s what he wants to leave Luke with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So when Luke looks at Reggie, contemplative and expectant, Reggie’s entire being is yelling at him to speak, but he doesn’t. And when Alex comes back in and tells them they need to go, Reggie is reliving his death all over again, but he nods. And when Caleb shows up at the last second, Reggie thinks he may have made a mistake, but it’s too late.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Before</b>
</p><p>
  <span>The night of the Orpheum performance, Luke was pacing so much he could be confused for Alex, who was being surprisingly chill.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie grabbed Luke’s hand as he walked by, tugging him down onto the couch between him and Alex. Although Luke hadn’t said a word, Reggie knew what he was thinking. “They’re going to come.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s eyes were wild with desperation. “You don’t know that,” he said. “What if they don’t come? What if you were wrong and they can’t forgive me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex took Luke’s free hand. “They love you more than anything. They wouldn’t have been fighting with you over your future if they didn’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your parents are the sweetest people ever,” Reggie said. “They would never cut you out, and after they see the show tonight, I’m sure they’ll support the band.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke acquired a weak smile, releasing his friends’ hands to wrap his arms around their shoulders, pulling them into his sides. “I love you guys. You know that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie aimed for a cocky smile but ended up earnestly beaming. “We had no idea, actually. I don’t think you’ve ever told us that before.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke rolled his eyes. “There’s no one I’d rather be doing this with. If I’m gonna be famous, I want it to be with you two.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aw, you really are as soft as Reggie,” Alex says despite becoming choked up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie would have retorted if Luke didn’t beat him to the punch. “One of his best qualities.” Luke checked the time. “We need to go. Time for sound check.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sound check was possibly their best performance yet, and Reggie could only hope they’d match it at their actual performance tonight. Everything was about to change and he didn’t know if he was ready for it. He didn't want them to become a band that was torn apart by fame.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was no time to think about that now as he, Alex, and Luke followed Bobby’s lead toward a cute waitress with dark curly hair who was wiping down the tables.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In response to the question of hotdogs, Bobby said to her.“Vegetarian, I could never hurt an animal.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You guys are really good,” the woman said. “I see a lot of bands, been in a couple myself. I was really feeling it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This stranger’s compliments were the exact confidence boost Reggie needed before the show. After their killer sound check and this woman’s support, what could go wrong?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s what we do this for. I’m Luke, by the way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, I’m Reggie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alex.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bobby.” Bobby was being the most visibly enamored.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nice meeting you guys. I’m Rose,” she responded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Never missing an opportunity to advertise, Reggie said, “Oh, uh, here’s our demo.” He handed her a CD. “And a t-shirt, size </span>
  <em>
    <span>beautiful</span></em><span>.” The flirtatious tinge came naturally as he gave Rose a band shirt. Making a move on pretty girls was instinct for him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Luke frowning at him, but the expression was gone as quickly as it came.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Rose said with an amused tone, as if she didn’t know quite what to do with them. “I’ll make sure not to wipe the tables down with this one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, good call,” Alex said. “Whenever they get wet they just kind...fall apart in your hands.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bobby interjected with, “Don’t you guys have to go get hotdogs?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Luke said before pushing Bobby back to lean toward Rose. “He had a hamburger for lunch.” He left with Alex and Reggie, chattering away about his musical philosophy. His passion and love for the craft had always been inspiring to Reggie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A jolt of excitement shot through Reggie as he spotted the line of people waiting outside the venue. Alex, the most easily overwhelmed, kept his distance, while Reggie handed out t-shirts to some of the girls at the back. Luke, on the other hand, took this as an opportunity to chat up one of the girls. She was laughing at his jokes, leaning in, finding reasons to subtly touch his arm. And Luke was doing the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie felt sick and didn’t know why. This was far from the first time he’d seen Luke flirt. He was their charming lead singer, after all. Girls flocked to him in a way they’d never do for Reggie. That was probably what this feeling was—envy that Luke would always be the star. If Bobby were out here, he’d be approached by the girls who swooned over the mysterious persona he’d cultivated. Even Alex was pretty popular although he hung back. At first he’d been the most forgotten, but as their following had grown he’d gained a group of fans who considered him the underrated gem of the group. They even found his shy demeanor endearing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then there was Reggie. Not the leading man, not the enigma, not the gentleman. He didn’t have a niche like the others. While he knew the fans still liked him, he was nobody’s favorite, and sometimes that stung.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We should get going,” Reggie said, voice wobbling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke nodded without looking at him, wrote his number on the girl’s hand, and winked at her before leaving. Reggie’s stomach rolled. Envy over Luke’s popularity. Yeah. That was all it was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soon the three were lined up on a couch with street dogs, buzzing with energy and feeling like the world was theirs for the taking. At one point they were just mucking around in Luke’s garage. Now they were finally going to </span>
  <em>
    <span>be someone</span></em><span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is awesome you guys,” Luke said. “We’re playing </span>
  <em>
    <span>the Orpheum</span></em><span>. I can’t even count how many bands have played here and then ended up being huge.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie laughed, unable to keep the smile off his face while experiencing Luke’s enthusiasm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re gonna be legends,” Luke said. He had a look in his eye like he could already see their whole bright future laid out. “Eat up, boys, because after tonight, everything changes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They toasted with their hotdogs, Reggie’s fear of impending change melting away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex’s face morphed into mild bewilderment as they took a bite. “That’s a new flavor.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie brushed him off. “Chill, man. Street dogs haven’t killed us yet.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>After</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie unwittingly waited twenty-five years to play The Orpheum, but now that they’re here, he’s on autopilot. He’s too consumed with thoughts of Caleb and Luke to think straight. As the performance goes on Caleb fades from his consciousness, being overtaken by Luke. Luke, who was the last to escape Caleb. Luke, who is looking at Julie like she’s the only person who’s ever mattered. Luke, who Reggie doesn’t know if he’ll see again after they cross over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The song is ending. It’s ending too quickly and Reggie doesn’t know what to do. Not that it matters, because there’s nothing he </span>
  <em>
    <span>can</span>
  </em>
  <span> do. This is it. Whatever is going to happen is about to happen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Only it doesn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The song ends and the performance is over and he, Luke, and Alex are unaffected. They’re emotionally and physically tired, sweating in their suits and overwhelmed by the situation, but they’re still there. Nothing is happening, and this is the moment Reggie realizes they were wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As if on cue the three of them meet eyes and make a silent unanimous decision, apparating back to the studio at the bottom of their bow, a jump that saps the last of their energy. They’re lying together in a heap on the floor, and Reggie should be terrified, but rather he’s thinking how fitting it is they should end this way. Right after a performance, all together, overlapping and so exhausted that they can’t feel where they each begin and end.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s going to see us,” Alex says right before a shock rips through them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“After what just happened she’s probably going straight to bed,” Luke counters.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie nods to Luke but says nothing, breath heavy but slipping away from him at an alarming rate. Another zap hits them, and he can’t tell if they’re becoming more painful or he’s becoming weaker.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you guys,” Reggie says, touching what he can of his friends. Saying more would require effort he can no longer provide, and besides, there’s nothing else to say. Those words, spoken countless times between them in both light and heavy moments, are their swan song.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The door to the studio opens, and though they can’t see her in the dark, only one person would be coming out here. Her voice cuts through the void between them. “I...I know I already said this, but uh...thank you guys.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The grief in her voice makes Reggie’s heart soften. “You’re welcome.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex groans.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dude!” Luke says, but even Luke’s ire is not enough to make Reggie regret speaking. He couldn’t leave Julie mourning them before they were gone, not after all they went through. Friends don’t lie to each other. Bandmates don’t lie to each other. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Family</span>
  </em>
  <span> doesn’t lie to each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Light floods the room, exposing the pile of teenage boys on the brink of their expiration date.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why...Why are you here? I...I thought...” Julie’s thought is interrupted by another round of shocks. “No...no! I thought you crossed over. Why didn’t you cross over?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The conversation devolves into exactly what Alex expected and the other two should have listened to: Julie’s desperation, begging them to make a different decision. Reggie wonders how his heart could break so many times while continuing to beat before remembering it doesn’t beat anymore. Perhaps hearts had to stop beating to accommodate how much loss could still be experienced in death.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Absorbed in his reflections, Reggie does not immediately realize the peculiarity of Julie hugging Luke. When he does, he shares a look with Alex as the same thought registers on his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How can I feel you?” Julie asks, hands running down Luke’s arms in disbelief.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I...I...I don’t know,” Luke says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>From Reggie’s vantage point, Julie’s face is in view as she and Luke caress each other in bewilderment and giddiness, both unable to process this development but reveling in it regardless. His heart clenches, but there isn’t time right now to process </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> feeling. Even so, Reggie can feel Alex watching him and knows Alex can tell what he’s thinking about. He refuses to look at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke locks eyes with Reggie over his shoulder as he says, “I feel stronger.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie and Alex don’t hesitate when Julie beckons them to her, all four of them linking together for the first time. Julie’s arm is warm around Reggie’s back while Alex’s comes around his shoulders over her head. Energy washes over Reggie like a tidal wave. “I...I...I don’t feel as weak anymore,” he says. All the conditioning in the world can’t stop the ugly sobs that come next. They’re okay. His entire family is safe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, me neither,” Alex says. “Not that, you know, I was ever that weak.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With all four of them crying, Reggie can’t tell if they chuckle out of humor or relief or love. He doesn’t have time to think about, the three boys holding out their wrists as Caleb’s tattoos float away. Developments were coming one after another and Reggie is pretty sure if anything else happens tonight he’ll blink out of existence from overload alone. Fortunately for him, nothing more is physically or emotionally asked of him, doing nothing for the rest of the night except tearfully celebrating their success with his friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The dead don’t require sleep, but after Julie heads inside for the night, sleep feels necessary after the taxing day they had. Reggie, Alex, and Luke gather all the blankets and pillows they can find in the studio, piling them in the loft to make a nest. Sleeping together goes without saying, the three of them crawling under a blanket together. Alex, the most calm of them, is in the middle, Reggie and Luke both curled into his sides using his chest as a pillow. The delicate rise and fall of his chest and the sound of their collective breathing becomes a lullaby, but even then Reggie can’t sleep. None of them can.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The weight of the day burdens them as they stay awake through the night, not speaking but taking comfort in each other’s presence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Before</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie hadn’t understood the concept of darkness until The Dark Room. He thought, therefore he was, but said thoughts were the only evidence of his being, as if his body had been absorbed. At first it was as though sentience in itself was the only thing that existed in the void.</span>
</p><p><span>Evidence to the contrary came an indeterminate amount of time later via Alex’s crying. The sound served as a reminder that Reggie was, in fact, a real human person with a body, and he moved through the emptiness toward the noise. As he came closer, Luke’s breathing joined the mix, and those small things slowly pieced Reggie’s awareness of his own entity back together. He groped blindly until his fingers curled first around Alex’s ripped jacket then Luke’s sweatshirt, the first physical sensations of The Dark Room.</span> <span>The second physical sensation was when Reggie began to breath, and the third was his own crying, inaudible on instinct but fast and hot on his face.</span></p><p>
  <span>Luke, who could now be heard crying as well, pulled Reggie and Alex into him without resistance, the three locking themselves in the tightest group hug of their lives. They shared an unspoken terror that letting go would mean losing each other, a chance they were unwilling to take. As lost and confused as they were, as much as The Dark Room swallowed whole, everything was a little bit brighter together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were a family that persisted even if each other was literally all they had.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>After</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie spends the morning after The Orpheum with Ray. Everyone else is at home, but none are available in the way he needs them to be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now that they still exist despite their expectations, his feelings for Luke are something he has to deal with, filling time spent around Luke with unbearable one-sided tension. He can’t get the look Alex gave him the night before out of his head and knows that the next time they’re alone together, Alex is going to bring up Reggie’s feelings, a conversation he doesn’t know how to have. And then there’s Julie, the blatant target of Luke’s affection, with whom he wouldn’t be able to contain the jealousy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What Reggie said and thought weeks ago is still true: They’re one song-writing session away from becoming a couple. Everyone can see the way he looks at her. They ooze chemistry. Reggie doesn’t believe in soulmates, but if he did, Julie and Luke would be two halves of a whole. They share the same musical spark, the same vivacity, the same willingness to go out into the world and take whatever they want from it. Meanwhile all Reggie has is half a dozen half-written country love songs, hesitation, and as much anxiety as Alex but better covered. Julie and Luke are wrecking balls; Reggie is the fragile structure that gets destroyed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is no happy ending for Reggie’s stupid, misguided feelings, and as a result, he’s avoiding all of his friends. He can’t stand to be around Luke and Julie, sitting together at the piano or on the couch, writing and stealing soft touches like they’re addicted to it. Grazing hands, shoving shoulders, squeezing forearms. He can’t stand to receive the sympathetic looks Alex would surely send him as he pined and was torn up inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The worst part is, he has nowhere to direct his misery. A broken heart is no one’s fault, and he loves both Luke and Julie. All he wants is for them to be happy, and apparently that’s with each other. It’s only a matter of time now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And so, Ray. Ray is not someone most would describe as interesting if they spent as much time around him as Reggie did. He works at an office job, cooks dinner for the family, and listens to his kids talk about school while they eat. He supports Carlos and Julie as much as they’ll let him, humoring Carlos’ ghost hunts even though he’s skeptical and pouring encouragement over Julie’s music and the band. He talks to his wife when he thinks no one is there to hear, filling the air with chatter about Carlos and Julie more than himself, the pride in his children bursting out of him. Carlos and Julie are to Ray what Luke and Alex are to Reggie—he doesn’t know what he would do without them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All of this is how Reggie always thought families were supposed to operate but never saw outside Luke’s home, although between Luke running away and the time since their pseudo resurrection, that too feels far in the past. Perhaps it’s silly to see Ray as any sort of parental figure, with him not being able to see or interact with Reggie, but he’s like one anyway. Ray is mundane and overflowing with love, the opposite of Reggie’s parents and all he ever wanted. No explosions, no being used as a pawn, no disregard or lashing out. Being around Ray is like sitting on the beach, peaceful and comforting, with nothing asked of him. Reggie has the strong feeling that even if Ray </span>
  <em>
    <span>could</span>
  </em>
  <span> know him, that fact wouldn’t change.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With all Reggie is avoiding and the disarray surrounding the band’s next move, Reggie spends more and more time with Ray instead of at the studio. There’s no practice to miss and Ray is his source of respite from his inner turmoil.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hasn’t spoken to the others in at least a couple solid days by the time he’s sitting beside Ray the sixth morning in a row. Reggie’s head is propped up on his hand, elbow against the island as Ray eats breakfast. Julie spent the night with Flynn but will be home soon, and Alex is on his daily hunt for Willie, not having seen him since the incident with Caleb. Luke is probably in the studio working on a song inspired by Julie. Reggie puts that thought out of his mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s all a mess right now, Ray,” Reggie says because he has no one else to talk to, and the rest come spilling out. “Eventually we’re going to figure things out and start doing stuff together again, and I don’t know what I’m going to do then. I used to be so good at keeping everything in, but I think I’m losing my ability to do that around them. I let them get too close. After Mom and Dad I never thought I’d be much of a love person. I don’t think Mom and Dad could hurt each other as much as they did if they didn’t love each other once. The fights are too personal. I thought familial love was safe but now everyone can see through me, a-and I don’t even know what to do with romantic love. Loving people...it makes it so easy for them to hurt you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It also lets them be there for you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie’s head whips around to spot Alex in the doorway, hands stuck in the pockets of his signature pastel pink sweatshirt. He’s wearing the sympathetic look Reggie has been trying to circumvent. Reggie seriously considers apparating away, but there’s nothing to be gained when unless Reggie leaves Los Angeles entirely, he has to have a confrontation with Alex if no one else.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex approaches, withdrawing a hand from his pocket and offering it to Reggie. “Let’s go for a walk.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie accepts his hand, allowing Alex to guide their apparition to a random city street. Once there, they walk in stride with one another, but both are waiting for the other to speak.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Curiosity compels Reggie to cave first. “How long were you listening?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I only caught the last sentence,” Alex says. “I promise I didn’t intend to listen in. I just happened to show up right then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I believe you,” Reggie says. Alex was the most against snooping of them. Even in Julie’s room he’d more or less been dragged along. Luke, on the other hand…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a couple minutes, Alex says, “Is that really how you see it? That loving people just lets them hurt you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not </span>
  <em>
    <span>just</span>
  </em>
  <span> that,” Reggie says. “I-I love you guys, and I don’t know what I would do without you. It’s good things, too. But...it does make it easier. To get hurt, I mean.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s just the cost of having important relationships, Reginald,” Alex says, bumping his shoulder. “I like to think we give you more good things than bad. And that you’d tell us if that wasn’t true.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie sighs, head hanging. “I know. And you do. B-but...it’s getting more complicated.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because of Luke,” Alex says gently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie winces and says nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll take that as a yes,” Alex continues.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We don’t need to talk about this,” Reggie says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex grabs Reggie’s arm, stopping him in his tracks, and apparates them to the beach. The beach being a comfort spot for Reggie has apparently not gone unnoticed, but with Alex few things do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes we do,” Alex says as they settle on the sand together. One of the cool things about being dead is the lack of getting sand anywhere.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s there to say?” Reggie snaps. Anger on Reggie is an outfit that doesn’t quite fit, and in it he’s unrecognizable even to himself. He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Sorry.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“It’s okay,” Alex says, because he’s an angel of infinite patience. He waits until Reggie continues.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We both know how this ends, Alex,” Reggie says. “You see the way Julie and Luke are with each other. You saw how they were when they realized they can touch each other. Pretty soon they’ll go from ‘literally everyone can see you’re in love’ to ‘officially a couple,’ and it’s fine, I’m happy for them. As happy as I can be. </span>
  <em>
    <span>They’re</span>
  </em>
  <span> happy, and that’s all that matters.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They wouldn’t be happy if they knew you were holding back for their sake,” Alex says. Reggie can see Alex’s self control, how he’s saying what will be most convincing to Reggie instead of what he’s thinking. “You could tell him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is there to gain?” Reggie says, hugging his knees to his chest. “I don’t think I could stand the rejection.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex is pained, Reggie presumes out of sympathy. Maybe even empathy, considering they’ve both had romantic feelings for Luke in their own time. Although, looking back Reggie supposed there was some overlap in time, too. In retrospect he feels dense for having missed all the signs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Several potential responses fly through Alex’s eyes, but the one he lands on is, “He’s one of your best friends. He’d want to know, and I think you’d regret not telling him.” He clasps Reggie’s hand. “And for the record, all those excuses you’ve been making to not be around aren’t fooling any of us. Luke’s worried about you. We all are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie can spend all the time he wants countering Alex’s first assertions, but the knowledge that he’s making his friends worry...that’s something he can’t ignore. He groans, burying his face in his knees. “I really hate you sometimes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you love me all the time,” Alex says, nudging him. “Because that’s what a real family is like. Nothing could ever change that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie raises his head, turning it toward Alex. “Not even being in love with your best friend?” It’s the first time he’s admitted his feelings out loud, and the resulting emotion is equal parts relief and sorrow. Telling Luke to his face will be that feeling ten-fold. Reggie isn’t ready for that, but he also knows he never will be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex is the one to look away now, gazing at the water with a wistful look in his eye, a shockingly rare occasion for such a sentimental person. “We were in love once, remember,” Alex says. “Before we realized we were better as friends. All love is equally good, but there are endless ways to do it. I don’t know what’s going to happen when you tell him. But I know that in the end you guys will find the right way to love each other, just like he and I did. I think that’s the best anyone can do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a few minutes the only sound is that of the tide.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Alex’s words settle over Reggie, he’s calm for the first time since realizing his feelings for Luke. Alex is right, because of course Alex is right. Caring about Luke means being upfront with him so they can move forward.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie almost thanks Alex, but instead he says what he means more. “I love you.” He lays his head on Alex’s shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex wraps his arms around Reggie’s shoulders. “I love you too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After his conversation with Reggie, Alex invites Julie on a walk, leaving Luke alone in the studio for Reggie to talk to. Despite the fact that he’s already died, Reggie is pretty sure he’s about to die all over again. The rational part of his brain knows Alex is right and that the worst case scenario here is some minor, temporary awkwardness, but the other part of his brain—the part that grew up in that house, that always felt a little less important than his friends, that sometimes thought he could disappear without much effect—that part is certain Luke is going to hate him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Reggie enters the studio, Luke is sitting on a stool with his guitar and a notepad, strumming and working out the melody for a song, although for every three notes he writes, two are scribbled out. He glances up when Reggie approaches, but he doesn’t say anything, going right back to work with a blank expression, as if Reggie isn’t there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Reggie says, timid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke takes a couple long seconds to respond even though Reggie can see he’s writing nonsense. “You’ve been gone so long I barely recognize you.” Luke is terrible at keeping his emotions in check and his resentment seeps into the words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re being dramatic,” Reggie says, sitting on the couch though his body remains stiff. He sighs. “I’m sorry, okay? I just...couldn’t be here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That makes Luke drop the casual tone entirely. He sets aside his guitar and notepad to stand. “You couldn’t be here? With your proclaimed family, you mean?” Reggie flinches and Luke’s face softens as he runs a hand through his hair. “Are you...are you mad at us or something?” He pauses, but even in the silence he’s bleeding concern and offense. “Are you mad at </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span></em><span>?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Reggie says, shooting to his feet. “It’s not like that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It feels like it is,” Luke says, stepping toward him. “You’ve been acting uncomfortable around all of us since The Orpheum, but I can never get you to stay around me for more than a minute or two.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie’s stomach contorts. “I...I didn’t think you noticed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke frowns, coming to within a couple feet of him. “You didn’t think I’d notice one of the most important people in my life acting like he can’t stand me? Do you think that little of me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie opens and closes his mouth. “I know it was stupid. I just don’t know how to be around you anymore!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke stumbles back as if Reggie slapped him. His expressions are changing too rapidly for Reggie to keep up with: hurt, confusion, realization, panic. “Is this about—” He cuts off, running a hand through his hair. “Did Julie tell you? She promised she wouldn’t, I—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie’s face crinkles. “Tell me what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing,” Luke says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luke—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Will you just tell me what’s going on?” Luke says. “I can’t stand you ignoring me, Reg. I don’t know what I did but I’ll do whatever I can to fix. I just need you in my life. I—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m in love with you.” The words are out before he so much as considered saying them, bursting forth like an animal that’s outgrown its cage. To Reggie’s shock, the fear he expected is completely overruled by relief. This is it. Luke knows, and now the ball’s in his court.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For perhaps the first time ever, Luke is speechless, his lips parted and eyes wide. Instinct says to look away, but Reggie can’t make himself, hunting for any sign of what Luke is thinking. Right now he’s pretty sure Luke isn’t thinking, that his mind has come to a complete halt. Then, like a switch, Luke blinks back to life, the gears in his head turning once more. He’s visibly restraining emotion when he says, “S-so, just to be clear, you mean…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie hugs his trusty leather jacket tight to his body, not forgetting for a second that Luke was the one to gift it to him. “Romantically. Yeah.” His face is bright red as he grinds the toe of his shoe into the floor. His eyes fall to the ground. “I, uh, I only realized it recently, but I think it’s been true since the ‘90s.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke walks forward until his shoes enter Reggie’s line of sight. “That’s funny,” Luke murmurs, “because </span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> knew in the ‘90s.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie’s head shoots up. “You—you already knew that I was into you? Why didn’t you say anything?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no!” Luke says, laughing. His cheeks are pink but he’s smiling like he’ll never get another chance. “I meant me. I knew back then that I was in love with you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie’s brain shuts down, but that doesn’t stop him from talking. “You—you’re—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Luke says, averting his gaze and rubbing the back of his neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie takes a step back. “But—Julie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke replaces his gaze. “I meant what I said before, Reg. I have chemistry with everyone I sing with. I love her, and she’s my musical soulmate, and she matters as much to me as you and Alex, but...it’s not like that with her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you guys—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke takes Reggie’s hands, giving them both a squeeze. “Reggie. As my friend, bandmate, and family, please believe me.” He bit his lip. “You remember when I told you about Alex and I, and how Alex wasn’t the reason I realized I’m not straight?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Reggie says. “It was obvious you were lying when you said it wasn’t about anyone, though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well yeah. I wasn’t about to tell you you were the reason.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie chokes. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Me</span></em><span>?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke laughs. “You. It’s always been you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But </span>
  <em>
    <span>why</span></em><span>?” Reggie blurts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke rolls his eyes though an uncontainable smile was playing at his lips. “Like it isn’t obvious? You’ve always been there for me, able to comfort me when no one else could. You pushed me to be my best even when it was uncomfortable or I got mad. You’re so genuine and kind that you make me want to be better. You unabashedly love country music and try to write it even though it doesn’t come as naturally to you as me or Julie. You’re overly optimistic and completely oblivious, and those should be bad things, but you make it look good. I’m so embarrassingly in love with you that you in all your density were the only person who couldn’t see it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe Reggie was right before. Maybe trying to confess to Luke killed him and now he was floating in some sort of beautiful daydream. “But wait—what was that thing earlier? What did you think I was mad at you about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s blush graduates from pink to red. “I thought you finally realized and were uncomfortable with it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And Julie telling me—she knows?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everyone does,” Luke says. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>She</span>
  </em>
  <span> approached </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span> about it. We’ve, been, uh...we’ve been writing you a country love song.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie grabs Luke’s shoulders, pulling him in. “You—oh my god. But you don’t even like country.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you do,” Luke says. “That was all that mattered.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re ridiculous,” Reggie says, embracing Luke with his head buried in his shoulder to hide his own blush. “I could kiss you.” Every day Reggie becomes more certain his mouth operates independently of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke chuckles, one hand playing with Reggie’s hair. “Feel free to.” Although he sounds as confident as usual, when Reggie pulls back to meet Luke’s eyes, Luke is buzzing with nerves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>High on adrenaline and shock, Reggie is the more self-assured of the two for the first time and takes Luke’s face in his hands, pulling him into a kiss.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Between the shyness and the inexperience, the kiss begins as a fumbling mess. Reggie has never kissed anyone, and Luke has primarily kissed Alex, who took the lead at the time. Now it’s like they’re sharing a first together, a cocktail of elation and shock and love. Luke’s lips are chapped and his hands are calloused from the guitar, and they’re a beat off each other’s rhythms and unsure of themselves, but they’re finding their way with each passing second, and all the sensations feel like </span>
  <em>
    <span>Luke</span></em><span>, and that’s the only feeling Reggie needs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When the first kiss is broken, it’s followed by several more while the pair absently backs up, stopping only when they hit the couch and stumble, collapsing in a tangled mess atop it. At that point they stare at each other, red-faced and frazzle-brained, and before they know it they’re clinging to each other as they break down in sobs full of humor and relief.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s a knock followed by Alex sticking his head through the door of the studio. “I hear crying. That better be because you finally talked and know how disgustingly into each other you are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His words only make the pair laugh and cry harder, prompting Alex to join them. There’s a small, satisfied smile on his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You knew,” Reggie says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Neither of you have a single ounce of chill.” Alex says, amused. “Julie and I have been waiting.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s when Reggie and Luke notice Julie’s arrival, unsure how long she’s been standing near the doorway. They stand as she runs to them, soon swept up in a group hug between the three. “It’s about time!” she says. “I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life and afterlife listening to Luke mope about how you don’t love him like that.” She rolls her eyes. “You guys are unbelievable.” When she pulls away, she grins at Alex as they revel in their triumph.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luke, you never again get to think of Reggie as the dense one,” Alex says. “This has proven that you’re both equally dense.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie and Luke roll their eyes, but their arms are wrapped around each other. Reggie’s eyes flick between his two bandmates. “Does this really not bother you guys?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Julie raises her eyebrows. “We’ve been waiting for this. The band and our friendships always come first, but I don’t think you need to be told that. We just want you two to be happy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex nods along. “And don’t let me poof in on anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggie blushes, but Luke only grins.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex and Julie plop onto the couch beside the new couple. “So,” Alex says, “you guys want to watch a movie? Thanks to </span>
  <em>
    <span>someone</span>
  </em>
  <span> we haven’t all hung out in awhile.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I already apologized,” Reggie mumbles.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not to me you haven’t,” Julie says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reggies says. “I’m sorry to all of you. I get it now, communication, yeah yeah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because if you ever start ignoring us again, we’ll hunt you down,” Luke says, poking his chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s right,” Alex says, nudging him. “And now step two in communication is picking a movie. We have a lot of catching up to do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naturally all four have a different idea of what to watch and become a squabbling mess, all tangled up in a group cuddle. Reggie has never been happier.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This, Reggie knows, is what a family is supposed to be like.</span>
</p>
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